GE Lighting on Monday announced the release of a 27-watt light-emitting diode (LED) that can replace the 100-watt incandescent light bulb while maintaining the familiar A-19 shape

The technical breakthrough necessary to cool the LED without making it any larger emerged from a collaboration between GE and ecomagination-challenge winner Nuventix. This open innovation allowed GE to harness and develop emerging technology to make a leap forward.

The bulb will be unveiled on May 9 at the LIGHTFAIR international in Las Vegas and will be on store shelves in the U.S. and Canada in the first half of 2013.

Using open innovation to tackle a previously insurmountable lighting challenge.

LEDs are semi-conductors that need to be cooled to ensure long life. Nuventix worked with GE to develop a method for moving air to cool LEDs using an oscillating membrane called a synthetic jet, which fits within the A-19 bulb shape.

“Once we came together last year, our teams wasted no time getting in the lab to build on the genius of GE’s LED bulb design, and to incorporate a synthetic jet solution that enabled GE to leapfrog its competitors,” said Jim Balthazar, CEO and president of Nuventix.

The bulb – developed in GE’s East Cleveland LED lab – meets all of the 100-watt incandescent performance metrics: 1,600+ lumens, uniform omnidirectional light distribution, 3000K color temperature, 25,000-hour life rating (22.8 years at 3 hours per day), dimmable, no mercury, instant full brightness and 60+ lumens per watt.

The 100-watt replacement LED will expand GE’s current family of LED bulbs already offered in a broad range of shapes, wattages and colors, including its 40- and 60-watt LED standard incandescent bulb replacements, spot and flood lights (PAR20 & PAR30), ceiling fan bulbs (A15), medium globes (G25), small globes (G16.5), candles (CA10) and night lights (C7). All of GE’s Energy Smart LED bulbs are rigorously tested to ensure constant color, long life and verifiable lumen ratings.

Top image: The 27-watt GE Energy Smart® LED bulb that can replace a 100-watt incandescent bulb. Courtesy GE Lighting

Matthew Van Dusen is an editor at ecomagination.com. He was a reporter for ten years at newspapers in Wyoming, Indiana and New Jersey, where he covered health care, the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and government corruption. He is the former co-editor of Green Energy Reporter.